Florida lawyer catches email scammer attempting to retain his legal services.

The holiday season is a festive time filled with gatherings, gifting, and decorating with family and friends. The last thing people are thinking about is internet spammers and scammers who can prey on their email and bank accounts.

According to statistics from Google, the holidays are the exact time when scammers ramp up their activity. In just two weeks in December, the internet company that runs the popular Gmail service blocked over 231 billion spam and phishing messages, which is more than 10% higher than the average volume.

Florida's attorneys are keenly aware of these threats made through email and are diligent in protecting their clients from those threats. However, what happens when scammers attack the attorneys themselves asking for legal services?

When Jacksonville-based civil trial attorney Ronald Austin received an email from a potential client asking for help with a sales contract for a medical equipment company, he did his research before responding directly.

Austin, a member of The Florida Bar and the State Bar of Georgia, has 42 years of experience with commercial transactions and civil contract litigation. The email he received was from someone claiming to be Jeff Wilson, CEO and president of Promethean Surgical Devices based in East Hartford, Connecticut.

"Before I responded, I looked at the company online to ensure it was legitimate," Austin said. "Promethean is in fact a legitimate company and Jeff Wilson is indeed their CEO."

Once Austin concluded the company was real, he replied to the initial email.

Austin asked Wilson to explain the nature of the sales transaction. The fake CEO asked Austin for his legal services to prepare the sales contract, bill of sale, and closing of four Isokinetic Dynamometer Systems to the Taylor Regional Hospital in Hawkinsville, Georgia.

While the information seemed correct, Austin was still wary.

"While I am pleased that you reached out to me; I cannot help wondering why you are considering my services instead of others. As you can see, my longevity invites a certain degree of skepticism and there may be no real basis for it other than that," Austin replied in his email.

The scammer's reply raised another red flag for the veteran attorney.

"As I stated in my foremost email correspondence with you, my in-house council recommended your firm amongst others," the scammer's reply stated.

"That looked very fishy to me. The email thread spelled in-house counsel with an...